


Are We There Yet?

by ISlayedBuffy



Category: Engelsforstrilogin | The Engelsfors Trilogy - Mats Strandberg & Sara Bergmark Elfgren
Genre: Other, Road Trip, discontinued, i am trash, i live in the depths of trash hell, wip that will probably stay that way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-20 10:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4784525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ISlayedBuffy/pseuds/ISlayedBuffy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vanessa has a, obviously, genius idea. Road trip. What could go wrong? Nothing! Things only go wrong on road trips if you attract trouble which this group of witches obviously NEVER do. Never! </p><p>Currently rated teen but eh, who knows what will happen. Certainly not me. Trigger warnings will be issued in the future. Message me if you feel like I missed any trigger warnings.</p><p>--abandoned because I suck--</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01. Don't you mind?

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I'm trash fucking sue me.
> 
> Me - The 1975 :: "I love you, don't you mind, don't you mind"

**_Take a left and then just go straight forever._**  

* * *

“You do realize that it would only take about an hour before someone is half dead or crying, right?” Linnéa asked Vanessa. Vanessa stood in front of them —Linnéa, Minoo, and Anna-Karin, that is— looking so proud with the idea she had just pitched. “And it’s probably going to be either me or Minoo.” she added.

Vanessa stared at Linnéa with a weak smiled and her head tilted slightly. Staring at her in that way she knew Linnéa couldn’t resist her. Staring at her in the way that she knew would mean that she would win. Linnéa stared back at her, crossing her arms over her chest in a very Linnéa Wallin manner. Linnéa kept on staring at Vanessa even after Vanessa broke her stare to look at Minoo and Anna-Karin waiting to hear their opinion on her obviously genius idea. “So?”

“For once, I agree with Linnéa.” Minoo sighed. “However, as you said yourself, it might be a way for us to be like… normal people.” she continued. Vanessa grinned, looking at Anna-Karin who didn’t need to say anything but “sure” with a smile, and Vanessa’s grin grew, if it was even possible, even bigger. Anna-Karin seemed to be the only one who didn’t need a reason to go other than being around her friends again.

Vanessa looked at Linnéa with her grin, and Linnéa groaned. “Fine.” she finally agreed. Vanessa wasn’t surprised. They had been together for almost four years, and friends even longer than that. She knew that Linnéa would agree to things if it was harmless —or in this case almost harmless since Linnéa was, in hindsight, correct and someone would end up either crying, half dead, or both— and it made Vanessa happy.

“So, who’s driving?” Vanessa asked.

* * *

 

Linnéa looked very out of place in front of the steering wheel. She had had her license for a while she just never actually drove after that. A few times for a shorter distance, but not more than that. She liked walking. Being stuck Engelsfors —because, yes, they were in fact stuck in Engelsfors again— meant that she _could_ walk everywhere so she _would_ walk everywhere. She didn’t own a bike. If she ever needed one she would borrow Vanessa’s. It was no wonder she looked out of place as she turned on the ignition of a car that was honestly, in her opinion, too small for the four of them and their bags.

It was an old car and it made suspicious noises when she slowly, and sort of nervously, lifted the clutch and met with gas. Too much gas. Vanessa and Minoo were talking about whether or not they should take the highway. Minoo thought that of course it would probably be slightly more boring but with more options to stop at gas stations and stretch. Vanessa, however, rejected that idea and thought that taking “smaller” roads would have plenty of places to stop by the side to stretch “or whatever”, _and_ they’ll see loads of things probably. " _Like, forest, forest, and more forest?”_ Linnéa thought.

She managed to get the car rolling and it only took a few minutes or so before _she_ thought she had gotten the hang of it again. The other three regretted that she would be the one driving first, or at all really, but it was too late to say anything now.

“We should play a game.” Vanessa suggested, excited enough for Anna-Karin to wonder if a person could explode if the were too excited. Anna-Karin liked Vanessa a lot. They all shared a bond and they were all close because of it in a way they probably wouldn’t trade for anything _now_ , but they weren’t all necessarily close as friends. Anna-Karin wished she was closer to Vanessa. She seemed so happy, so excited, all the time. She couldn’t help but to smile whenever Vanessa did. She could see what Linnéa saw in her, although she did think about it as strange sometimes that they —Linnéa and Vanessa— ended up together. They seemed like opposites. Maybe the opposites attract theory was right after all.

“We could play like, I don’t know, like a guess the song game and the first person to say the song and artist get points? Music quiz?” Vanessa proposed, already getting her AUX cable out of her bag. Which Linnéa first of all thought was ridiculous since this old red little car shouldn’t even have a AUX port to begin with. It was an atrocity to force an AUX port into such an old model of car. Secondly, as far as Linnéa knew, they all listened to very different music and the odds that everyone one would know half of the songs Vanessa played seemed unlikely. She didn’t say anything though, if music quiz was the first thing to Vanessa’s mind they would play music quiz. There were worse games to play after all.

Vanessa plugged in the AUX cable into the port and then her phone into the cable. She opened up the music app she was using and looked through the music and the playlist, wondering which playlist was the most neutral, which would apply to everyone.

Meanwhile, Minoo, who was sitting in the backseat with Anna-Karin, was not looking out the window as she probably should’ve been doing to avoid any motion sickness. Instead, she was looking at Linnéa. Partly because she now realised she would’ve rather driven herself, and partly because of the very concentrated face Linnéa was doing. It was amusing, probably the most fun she would have while the car was moving. Sometimes when Linnéa was really concentrated on the traffic, although it was barely traffic in Engelsfors, such as in a crossing, Minoo could sometimes hint Linnéas tongue sticking out if she wasn’t biting her lip. She had never seen someone, let alone Linnéa, that concentrated while driving. It was no surprise that Linnéa was the one to curse when the four of them jumped as James Kerr shouted _‘hey, hey, hey, hey’_ on a way to loud volume.

“Sorry, sorry!” Vanessa apologized although it wasn’t her fault per se. She lowered the volume before pausing the music and continuing looking through the playlist she found that seemed decent enough, hopefully with plenty enough songs for all of them to fight for the throne of ‘road trip music quiz queen’. New music, old music, bad music, good music. It was all there. While looking through the playlist another time she thought of how _genius_ it would’ve been if they had made a road trip playlist before leaving, or if they had just had a playlist with shared music. She should’ve thought about it before hand.

“Alright, so, here are the rules.” Vanessa started. “If you know the answer you say your name. First to say their name gets to answer. If you know the song you get one point and if you know the artist you get one point so you can get a total of two points for every song. Okay? Okay, here’s the first song.” She looked down at her phone, smiling, knowing that at Linnéa would know this song even though she would never admit it. She forwarded to about one minute in so it wouldn’t be too easy or too hard. _‘But if I do, it’s you, oh it’s you they—’_  Anna-Karin said her name. Vanessa looked knowingly with a smirk at  Linnéa who quickly glared at her. “It’s uh— ‘Little Things’ By One Direction. Right?” Vanessa nodded. Two points to Anna-Karin.

Once again Vanessa looked down at her phone and decided a song she was sure all of them knew, and once again she forwarded to about a minute in so it wouldn’t be too hard or too easy. _‘Into the night. Calling out for the road—‘_ Minoo was first this time. “It’s ‘I See Fire’ by Ed Sheeran. Correct. The game continued for an hour or so before they stopped at a gas station with Anna-Karin as the ‘Music Quiz Queen’, They all left the car to stretch. They didn’t actually need any gas at the moment, still Minoo took it upon herself to fill the car up and pay. They had decided that everyone pays when needed and saves the receipt so the could add up later what costs needed to be shared. Anna-Karin, Vanessa, and Linnéa had all headed into the gas station to see if there was anything they wanted.

“So?” Vanessa wondered sneaking up behind Linnéa. Anna-Karin was on the other side of the store. “Do you regret putting your driving skills to the test and saying yes to this awesome road trip idea?” she asked, a smile on her face. Of course Linnéa didn’t regret it. She was still hesitant to if it was going to be ‘awesome’, but she didn’t regret it. If Vanessa was happy, she wasn’t going to regret anything. At least not if it was such a small thing as a road trip.

“No.” Linnéa answered. “But if bonding is your agenda, there are cheaper and more comfortable ways to do it that does not involve money spent on gas and expensive food or bugs and mosquitos in tents. We could just as easily bonded over an evening of fun and then come home to a soft bed.” Linnéa didn’t regret it, she really didn’t. But she wasn’t going to say _‘You know what, this was a really good idea’_ just yet.

The bell from the door rang as Minoo came into the store. Walking straight to the cashier not giving the rest of the store even a quick glance. Anna-Karin walked over to her with a bottle of soda and a chocolate bar. They didn’t say anything to each other. Maybe because Minoo was paying the gas, maybe because they just didn’t feel like talking. That was one of the greater things with their friendship. There was no need for talking. If neither of them wanted to talk, they wouldn’t. They would be fine without it. They had great conversations when they did talk and they had fun, but most of the time it was nicer to just be quiet and enjoy the time together in silence. Minoo waited behind Anna-Karin as she paid for her drink and candy.

“You two coming or what?” Minoo asked Vanessa and Linnéa as Anna-Karin and her were about to walk out to the car again. They had headed out on the road later than expected and it was definitely time to try to find somewhere to sleep. Vanessa had insisted on at least one night in the giant tent the old owners of her and Linnéas apartment had accidentally left behind when moving and hadn’t gotten back. If it got dark before they found a place to tent they would definitely have a hard time to set it up. If Rebecka… no. No, no ‘if Rebecka’ Minoo thought to herself. The thoughts coming too fast at her for anyone to notice anything.

“Yeah.” Linnéa answered. She hadn’t found anything she wanted. Not even a piece of candy. She hadn’t actually really been looking for anything special and she didn’t crave anything so maybe it was better not waste money at all. Vanessa however walked over to where the soda was and grabbed a bottle and went over to the cashier. Minoo and Anna-Karin had left and were making their way to the car while Linnéa waited for Vanessa.

Again, they were all in the car. Again, Linnéa was both concentrated and a bit nervous to see how it would go to start the car. Again, she gave too much gas to begin with, but again, they were on the road. It was only a couple of minutes before they saw a sign to a beach and Vanessa suggested they could tent there. No one objected and it wasn’t long, only 10 minutes or so from the sign until they were parked at the beach. It was empty and rather peaceful.

“We should start by setting up the tent so we have that finished.” Minoo decided for the group. It was still pretty sunny outside, but it was clear that it wouldn’t last much longer. Anna-Karin had brought the tent with her from the car without anyone asking her to. They all helped out, and they were all surprised that no one really slipped into their archetype. Minoo didn’t take an especial lead of bossy position and Linnéa wasn’t really that grumpy about the fact that it took a lot longer to set the tent up than it should probably do even the first time.

* * *

It was pitch black outside when they were all sitting in the sand around a small campfire. It was peaceful and waves crashing into land made them all sort of sleepy.

“So, who’s driving tomorrow?” Linnéa asked.


	2. 02. High above the Smokestacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Implied disordered eating.
> 
> AN: Forgot to tell y'all last time that the titles will all be from songs that fit somehow. If that is just a single line or the whole song will differ. So look out for that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smokestacks - Layla :: "Hopin' I will carry you (carry you). Carry you home."

_Traffic is all about cooperation_

* * *

 

 Anna-Karin usually woke up a lot earlier than other people. Her body clock had just decided that she was destined to be one of those who woke up at an ungodly hour and just lied there in bed for hours reading or eating breakfast. Just laying in bed “enjoying the early morning and all it’s morning sounds”. She didn’t mind really, at least as long as she woke up by herself and not because of an alarm. She especially didn’t mind when she woke up to the sound of waves crashing into the sandy beach they had decided to tent at the night before. She could hear the others breath softly, and calmly, around her. Although she didn’t know what time it was, she wasn’t surprised they were all still sleeping.

She had woken up facing the grey and black tent wall — if it could be called a wall — and Vanessa close behind her. It was a huge tent, yet Vanessa had managed to inch closer to Anna-Karin, dragging Linnéa with her in the process, all while sleeping. Just one of those people Anna-Karin supposed. While thinking about it she decided that there were a couple of groups of sleeping people. There were the snorers who will make you want to go to bed early so you fall asleep before them. The kickers who will either wake you up four times every night or who will just generally disturb your sleep. Lastly but not least the type of people she guessed Vanessa was who will take the whole bed and/or pillows and blanket. She wondered if Linnéa ever woke up in the middle of the night freezing and almost falling of the bed. She quietly snickered at the image in her head of Linnéa waking up as she’s falling to the floor.

“Good morning.” Anna-Karin heard someone say. It took a few seconds to settle down from the jumpiness to register whose voice it was. “Sleep well?” Minoo asked. Anna-Karin nodded before saying yes, remembering that Minoo was on the other side of the tent and probably couldn’t see her nod.

“And you?” Anna-Karin asked quietly, not sure what else to say or ask. A silence ensued. It was short, but longer than it “should” normally be when you’re waiting for an answer. It was long enough of a silence to know that Minoo had to think about her answer.

“Yeah.” she answered, swallowing down all and any feelings that could possibly turn into a sob. It wasn’t necessarily a lie. She felt good and she wasn’t tired. It was a good sleep. Her dreams though. Dreams that had been haunting her for years, tearing her apart piece by piece every time they resurfaced, making her wish that she could just decided to not sleep or decide what to dream or just not dream at all. The dreams that made her silently cry in the morning, taking away all the energy she had restored overnight in a matter of seconds. The kind of dream that she had woken up from hours ago when there was barely any light outside. Those dreams made it hard for her to feel like an honest person when telling Anna-Karin that she had slept well.

Anna-Karin’s stomach growled. If she had been home, in her own bed, she would’ve had breakfast long ago, just as soon as she had woken up. Now, however, she wasn’t sure they even had breakfast with them. They had packed dinner for the night — spam, and potatoes that they had boiled on an old camping stove — but she had no idea if they had anything else but spam, spam, more spam, and look more spam. Again, she snickered quietly. They probably had some candy and soda, which was hardly breakfast but if that was what they had she could make due.

“I’m going to go see if I can find something to eat.” she told Minoo as she tried to get out of her sleeping bag without waking up Vanessa and Linnéa. She sat up on her knees to open the tent zipper without looking at the other three in the tent and then got out, closing the zipper behind her. She realized there was no use in walking over to the car, which meant crossing a short distance full of pine needles barefoot, since it was most probably locked. If she wasn’t going to walk to the car, she had no food. Instead of just going back into the tent and ask for the car keys she walked over to the water. She dipped her feet in it with a smile. It wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm enough for her to want to actually bathe in it.

She could hear the tent zipper behind her. She didn’t turn around, instead she kept looking down at her feet in the water. When you got used to the temperature it wasn’t even remotely chilly in the water and she might actually consider bathing in it before they left.

“I thought you said you were going to get food?” Minoo asked, creeping — yes, creeping — up behind Anna-Karin. She prefered not to get her feet wet. Actually, when thinking about it, the idea disgusted her. Even with dry feet she had too much sand sticking to them and in between her toes. It was annoying and it felt awkward and wrong. She hated the ‘barefoot on beach’ norm. She admitted that sand in shoes was annoying but she’d rather wear socks in her shoes and then just get rid of the sand in the shoes and feel fine than be annoyed for hours, maybe even a whole day, because of how her feet felt when they were sandy. The thought of wet feet that sand would instantly stick to for a millennia made her want to cry.

“I was.” Anna-Karin answered, turning around to Minoo with a smile. Minoo returned it. It was amazing how much Anna-Karin had changed over the years, and also how much she had stayed the same. The core was still Anna-Karin, and it was still her values, still her virtues and vices. It was just a more confident, and happy Anna-Karin. Minoo forgot about sandy feet as she thought about how that journey must have been greater to go on than to witness.

“Did the water call for you? I figured it would be Linnéa it was going to call too not you.” Minoo tried to joke, internally rolling her eyes at herself, wondering why she even tried to joke anymore when she knew she was only funny when she didn’t try to. It was in the delivery of things, not the content itself. She could be funny if she said something in a special way, and even then it was mostly peoples nervous laughter not knowing if she was serious or not. So of course Anna-Karin laughed a little, more out of sympathy than actually finding it funny.

“I didn’t want to put on my shoes and the way to the car is covered in pine needles. Dipping my feet in the water seemed like a better idea than walk over to the car, and in this case I’d say it was the right decision to make” Anna-Karin explained, looking at Minoo who was watching the edge of the water recede and come back with every wave. Not only because she found it funny that it could almost be a metaphor for her mental health — always receding to the worse and coming back to the best in waves — depending on how well her dreams and thoughts treated her, but also to cautiously supervise that she wasn’t standing too close and risking her feets dryness.

“I don’t even think we have any breakfast to be honest.” Minoo said with a sigh feeling herself too getting hungrier by the minute. It was a great idea to go on a road trip, she really did think so, and she appreciated that Vanessa cared enough to force them all together to go on one. But the planning was awful. She could, and probably would later today, take some sort of initiative for the planning. Food, water, and shelter had to be planned. They could definitely not risk being stranded in the middle of some forest without food or water with two hours walking distance to the nearest gas station and no cellphone service. It was a horror film situation. Worse. A gore film situation. Where it’s obvious that they’ll all be murdered by a psycho with a chainsaw or something.

The two of them — Anna-Karin and Minoo — stood in silence for a while. It was a pleasant silence.The only sound to be heard were the waves and a bird or two. Anna-Karin looked at the horizon, at her feet and then at Minoo. All three a pleasant view. She lingered on Minoo for an extra second before returning to anything else there was to watch. She always wondered what was going on with her. Anna-Karin rarely talked about how she was feeling really unless it was big, neither did Minoo. The other could sense it though. All of them could sense it, but it took something more than that bond to really sense it, and to actually care.  Anna-Karin sensed something wrong with Minoo. It wasn’t all there. She wasn’t all there, Something was missing. Some kind of fire, or happiness, or… Anna-Karin didn’t know, just something. Something was missing that had been there. It disappeared a long time ago. Sometimes it came back and left again, but she could never put her finger on what it was. She could definitely not put her finger on why. Only Minoo knew that.

“What’s the time?” Minoo asked so she didn’t have to keep staring at the waves receding and coming back, receding and coming back, receding and coming back. Over and over and over again. Anna-Karin shrugged. She wasn’t wearing a watch and her cellphone was out of battery. Something they should’ve realized would happened to all their phones sooner or later before they left.

“Judging from the sun, maybe eight?” Anna-Karin estimated, shielding her eyes with her hand while she looked into the morning sunlight and then at Minoo who was doing the same. They both wondered if they should wake Linnéa and Vanessa and risk them being grumpy all day, just for the sake of food, or if they should leave a message and ‘steal’ the car to go get food while the two were still, supposedly, sleeping in the tent. Minoo’s stomach growled and decisions were made instantly. She started to walk over to the tent. Anna-Karin stood still where she were, looking at Minoo. Minoo opened the zipper to the tent where Linnéa and Vanessa were, as she had guessed, still sleeping. She remembered that Linnéa had put the car key in her backpack which was right at her feet. She stretched a little to get to it and found the key instantly in the smaller outer pocket of the bag. She closed the outer pocket before backing out and closed the tent zipper again and make her way to the car.

“Are you coming?” Minoo asked Anna-Karin, a little louder than she actually needed to. They weren’t all that far apart. Anna-Karin answered by starting to walk over to Minoo. Minoo didn’t wait for her, instead she kept on going to the car. Minoo regretted not putting shoes on when she had to walk that short distance covered in freshly fallen pointy and sharp pine needles. Both her and Anna-Karin walked funny to avoid the absolute pain that was walking barefoot over pine needles. Finally at the car Minoo took the drivers seat and Anna-Karin the passenger seat.

Minoo, unlike Linnéa, was accustomed to driving. She liked taking her bike, she did. But her place now was a lot about finding witches around the world, or well, around the area. That involved a lot of driving, and sometimes longer distances. She wasn’t used to the car but it didn’t take long for her to figure out how sensitive it was and the such.

They never turned off the radio the day before and even though it played music neither Minoo nor Anna-Karin particularly liked they didn’t bother to turn it off now either. It was one of those stations that played new and popular music. The latest from the popular artists, mixed in with the occasional oldie but goldie. It was bearable enough for it too not be annoying.

Minoo drove the same way they came — a narrow, bumpy road through the forest made up of gravel and sand like so many other roads leading to beaches since a lot of them were hidden around forests — remembering that they passed a store on their way there. It wasn’t a long distance.

Again her stomach growled and she started to feel a bit sick. She never got motion sickness when she was driving, so it was all hunger. It scared her that it almost felt like an accomplishment that she had brought her body to the point where she was so hungry it made her feel sick. She remembered hearing, or reading, that feeling sick because you’re hungry is mostly due to your stomach being so empty the acid attacked itself and the walls of the stomach. She focused on remembering the lyrics to the song. It was wrong. The thoughts weren’t new, and she knew what their were. She just really didn’t want them, she didn’t have to deal with them when everything else around her was crumbling down without anyone noticing.

Minoo parked the car at the store and got out of the car, Anna-Karin just a second behind. Their feet hurt against the already warm asphalt and they both regretted not bringing shoes. The store was small, quiet, and almost empty as they looked for breakfast for the four of them. 

* * *

 Linnéa woke up to the sound of a car engine starting. She sat up quickly, looking around her to find that both Minoo and Anna-Karin was gone. Vanessa stirred from sleep as Linnéa looked for the car key she had had in her bag. It wasn’t there.

“What is it?” Vanessa asked drowsily. She turned around slowly to look at Linnéa who laid down again. They were facing each other. Vanessa could barely keep her eyes open and Linnéa couldn’t dream about going back to sleep.

“Nothing.” Linnéa sighed, guessing Minoo and Anna-Karin and taken the car somewhere and would hopefully come back sooner or later. When thinking about it a little longer, she wondered where they had gone to. What was so important they had to leave now? She didn’t know what time it was but it couldn’t be that late in the day already. She decided to stop thinking and focus on what was in front of her. Warmth and comfort.

If she was going to be honest, Linnéa was still scared. She knew that Vanessa would never hurt her on purpose. She had taught herself how to not fear being hurt. What she hadn’t taught herself though, was how to not fear herself. It wasn’t something she thought about on a day to day basis. It was when she was so close to this. Warmth and comfort. When everything was quiet and peaceful and there was nothing but them and the soft sounds around them. She studied Vanessa who still had her eyes closed. Everything about it — the situation, Vanessa, the simplicity of it all —  reminded Linnéa how easy it was to just screw everything up. Again. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time.

“I’m hungry.” Vanessa whispered, scaring Linnéa who wasn’t sure whether Vanessa had fallen asleep again or not.  Linnéa smiled, still looking at Vanessa who was now trying to slowly open her eyes and look at Linnéa.

“Whatever happened to foreplay?” Linnéa joked, her smile changing into a smug grin. Vanessa giggled — yes, giggled — and shuffled closer to Linnéa, as close as she could get, and put her arm around her as she kissed Linnéa lightly on the cheek. Vanessa was to tired to get up and look for food, and she was definitely too tired to pursue the flirting Linnéa had started. Instead, she lay there silent just looking at the tent wall, occasionally looking up at Linnéa’s face, and her eyes.

Sometimes Vanessa didn’t think about it. Rarely she thought about it, and a lot of the times it was so obvious to her that she almost forget it. Sometimes however, she stopped everything she was doing just so she could take a second or two to be in awe by Linnéa. Their relationship wasn’t the best, and she knew that. Regardless of how they were fighting or if the for once acted like they were actually meant to be together, it didn’t change the fact that Linnéa was, according to Vanessa, breathtakingly stunning and in that moment, as the lay there listening to the soft sounds around them, Vanessa was in awe by her beauty. By the beauty the love of her life possessed.  

“I love you.” Vanessa whispered with a smile, again kissing Linnéas cheek lightly. Linnéa smiled when she turned her face to Vanessa’s. They looked at each other for a short while, just smiling and taking in what they had got right in front of them. A soulmate, and in many cases, a best friend. Before anything else could happen they heard a car making suspicious noises, like it was about to break. They both got out of the tent to see Anna-Karin holding up a grocery store plastic bag.

“We got breakfast!” she half-shouted, walking carefully and weird looking over the short distance covered with pine needles. Minoo was behind her. “We got some ready to eat stuff like fruit and uh- packaged sandwiches.”

* * *

 “Are we sure everything is in the car? All pieces of the tent? Everyone’s belongings?” Minoo asked like an authority figure. Everyone rolled their eyes as they took their places in the car. Linnéa was again behind the wheel. She regretted agreeing to driving again. Minoo was the last one in the car. She still had the feeling they were forgetting something.

When they were all in the car, ready to ‘rock n’ roll’ as Linnéa had so nicely put it they were on the road again. They went back into the town they had past to get on the right track and later unto the highway. They had collectively decided to take the highway for a bit of the day so they could actually get somewhere. Minoo told the others about a town she had been in a few times, not a lot bigger than Engelsfors really, but with a really nice ice cream place and some other things definitely worthy everyone’s time, such as beautiful churches and an old castle.

They passed two bigger cities on their way to this, according to Minoo, town not much bigger than Engelsfors. When they got there, about two hours later, they were all glad. They hadn’t stopped to stretch on the way so they wouldn’t waste time, much to their own dismay. However, it was worth it. They enjoyed their ice cream, and although the castle was smaller than expected they enjoyed it. There were games to be played in it that kept them occupied for a while before they actually got onto looking around at the exhibition.

It was around lunch time when they started to walk around. There were signs for pedestrians that they could follow and get into town, a distance that didn’t take more than five minutes to walk, where they found a nice yet overpriced cafe to eat at.

“I was thinking,” Anna-Karin started, addressing the whole group, “since it’s still nice weather and we don’t know how many days that is going to last. Are we going to take our chances and tent tonight again?” A silence settled. Anna-Karin did hope that they would. Vanessa smiled at her, and she answered it.

“Well, we should save our money for when we actually need to stay at a hotel or something so.” Linnéa pointed out and Minoo agreed. Nothing more needed to be said. It wasn’t verbally decided but they all knew it was decided, they were tenting tonight.

When they were done eating Vanessa wanted to look around the shops in town and Linnéa was a package deal that went along. While Vanessa and Linnéa walked around and looked through the limited amount of shops Minoo tried to find information about places to see, and especially places they could tent. Anna-Karin had decided to come with her. They hadn’t actually decided they were staying in this town, or around it, but Minoo figured there was no harm in looking into it if they did decide to do that.

“There they are.” Anna-Karin heard Vanessa say from a smaller distance. She turned around to see Vanessa and Linnéa. They were holding hands, something they didn’t do very often anymore. In their free hands they carried a plastic bag each with logos everyone could see for the next ten billion light years  away and recognize.

“What are you two up to anyway?” Vanessa asked. Minoo hadn’t actually said anything before they separated after lunch, and Anna-Karin just tagged along so she had no idea. Minoo was deep in thought while reading through a pamphlet she had picked up. They all stood in silence for a little while. “Hello?” Vanessa tried.

“Are we staying the night?” Minoo asked, and they all looked around at each other. They all decided that ‘sure, why not’ was a good way to go about things. No one had anything more they wanted to do around here so they went to a church just across the street for the sake of it. It was a nice church. Some parts of it were very old, some, in relation, very new.

Anna-Karin sat down in one of the rows just looking at the front of the church. She had never been a religious person per se and she probably never would be. But the feeling of being in a church sometimes made her wish she was. She wished she could believe. She really did. She wished she could have that hope and trust in something she could never prove was there. That she could trust something or someone so much she didn’t even need any proof. What they — the four of them — had gone through together didn’t actually change any of that. Magic and demons and such didn’t prove or discredit anything, and the want and need to be able to trust something bigger than her with more power than her in times of desperate need and troubled times grew bigger after everything that had happened.

“Hey.” Vanessa greeted, her voice softer than usual so not to sound like she was shouting in the church. She sat down beside Anna-Karin who had only greeted with a smile, she was slowly resurfacing from her thoughts wondering if she was suppose to say something or if Vanessa just wanted to sit quietly. She wasn’t used to wondering that. With Minoo she never had to wondered, it all just came natural if they were going to be silent or talk.

“I know this might seem strange and out of nowhere, but I couldn’t care less because I want to tell you that I really want you to know that you’re a great friend and even though we’re not close, obviously that’s why I proposed this trip, I really want you to know that I see you and I appreciate you and yeah, you’re a great friend.” Vanessa told Anna-Karin, offering her a smile. “And I hope you know that.” Anna-Karin smiled too. Bigger than usual. As Anna-Karin’s smile grew, so did Vanessa’s and before they knew it they were both sitting there laughing. Their laughter echoed through the church. Linnéa and Minoo who had walked around the church together looked at each other with frowns before they both chuckled and headed back to the other two.

“Thanks. You’re a great friend too.” Anna-Karin told Vanessa.

* * *

It was late and the sun was barely visible anymore as they once again sat around a fire. They were trying to entertain themselves as a group and had decided to play truth or dare. The dares were nicer than the truths and they were all laughing at and with Minoo who had gotten a dare from Vanessa to do the chicken dance. The laughter died down peacefully and they all started to yawn sporadically.

“I think it’s time for bed.” Anna-Karin suggested and they all agreed. They had a day tomorrow to look forward to too.  


End file.
